mikoto no

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Endo presses and Fallen Stern grinds viciously against Miroku during those brief seconds. All that's in his ears is the clang of metal, discordant crashes punctuated by rattling pain. There's nothing on his lips, only breaths and grunts of effort. There's nothing to be said now, nobody to come between them. What needs to be said can be done through metal.

But Fallen Stern doesn't speak loud enough this time. It's pushed back, the pressure of the device forced to relent against Mikoto's strength and Endo required to rebalance to compensate for Mikoto's push. When he does he's not expecting her to get in so close, to come in so savagely and quickly with her own blade in reply.

There's not much time to think, and not enough space to properly react. Not with all the options available to him, not with magic or anything but familiar steel. Fallen Stern turns, Endo making hasty effort to interpose it between himself and Mikoto's weapon. It's a difficult task, the sword and unwieldy, hard to maneuver at the precise angles necessary.

Too hard. Sparks crack as dark metals meet, and the best that Endo can do is guide Mikoto's blow further up and toward less necessary things. It bites deep into his shoulder, barrier jacket shearing, metal biting down into skin beneath. The blow is visible as it registers, his body jerking back and face twisting in pain. A hiss too, to let Mikoto know she's struck home.

He's acutely aware through the pain that he's got to force her backward. To throw her off balance, before more and permanent damage can be done. He does so awkwardly, blade jerking back up from it's brief fall and sweeping out in desperate bid to force Mikoto back.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Blauverschiebung on Mikoto Minagi.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.


COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to dodge Endo Naoki's Blauverschiebung, taking 29 Fatigue damage!  Endo Naoki is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

	Miroku bites. It has long thirsted for blood, and blood it gets. It brings in Mikoto a base satisfaction, that Endo is mortal, that Endo can bleed. Her nostrils flare with the scent of it.

	But it is in her nature to strike and retreat, strike and retreat. She plants her feet to spring away - and is caught, mid-jump, by Fallen Stern carving upwards. The blade scores her shin, up past her outer leg, cuts a tear through the side of her skirt not unlike the styles favoured by her friends given to delinquency. She staggers as she lands.

	Pain. He has brought her pain again.

	Fallen Stern's wielder is the person who will make her hurt.

	BGM change: Regina Spektor - Après Moi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbeHq1CLqJ8

	Here is where any normal girl would consider her safety. Here is where any normal girl would recognise a pattern, and retreat. Here is where any normal girl would recognise she cannot beat this boy, no matter her resolve.

	Fevrale dostat chernil I plakat
	(February. Get ink, shed tears.)

	Blood drip-drips onto the concrete, and it's her blood, now, from her leg and her arm. She is leaking. Slowly, she is breaking.

	Pisat O Fevrale navsnryd
	(Write of it, sob your heart out, sing.)

	Tears of pain leak from her eyes, and she howls, in anger and frustration. She cannot break. This lesson she has learned. No fear, no pain.

	Distantly, You are a perfect killer, Mikoto-chan.
	Distantly, You don't have to worry about being hurt.
	Distantly, You cannot run from this.

	Poka grohochushaya slyakot
	(While torrential slush that roars,)

	Cherry blossom petals float between the two of them. Last time, Nao intervened, and the words of an ally brought her back from the brink. Last time, they were able to speak.

	There is no one here now. There is no one, and Mikoto's eyes glow with retribution.

	Vesnoyu charnoyu gorit
	(Burns in the blackness of the spring.)

	Miroku gleams, glowing slits along its length, and Mikoto knows what she must do. There is nothing else she could possibly do. She leaps high, on injured leg, the cut visibly tearing for anyone who cares to pay enough attention to see it. In the air, she spins, a 360-degree roll. Miroku cleaves through snowflakes on its path towards Endo's centre, and they separate into two halves, fluttering behind her.

	It is not just snowflakes it would cut. It is obvious, to someone with Endo's swordarm, what the velocity and the ferocity together represent.

	As it draws close, the glowing slits along the claymore open, become piercing, magical sigils in the form of eyes, full of malice.

	Who is wielder? Who is wielded?

	Mikoto screams, a wounded beast.

	I - must - go on standing -- you can't - break that - which isn't - yours -- I - must - go on standing -- I'm not - my own - it's not - my choice -

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Death on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has finished attacking.